ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Turing machine equivalents

A Turing Machine is a kind of computer that can take in input, follow a set of instructions, and give output. There are different kinds of Turing Machines that are all pretty much the same, but some are more powerful than others.

An equivalent Turing Machine is a different kind of computer that can do exactly the same things as another Turing Machine. This means that if you give it the same input, it will give you the exact same output.

Imagine if you had two toy cars that looked different but could both drive around on the same track and do the same things. They are equivalent because they can both do the same thing, even if they look a little different.

In the same way, different Turing Machines can all do the same things, even if they look different or have different rules. This is useful because it means that we can use different kinds of Turing Machines for different tasks, but we still know they will give us the same answers.

So, just like with toy cars, there are different kinds of Turing Machines that are equivalent, but they all work in the same way to do the things we need them to do.